Fremont County reports smaller-than-expected forest-reserve receipts; title III funds set for wildfire prevention and search-and-rescue training

Fremont County officials told commissioners that revenue from federal forest-product receipts was substantially lower than anticipated this year and discussed how remaining Title III funds will be applied to wildfire-prevention and search-and-rescue needs.

County staff said Secure Rural Schools (SRS) reauthorization had not occurred and actual forest-product receipts for the year totaled about $95,000 versus higher projections (the meeting referenced an expected $750,000 figure). By law, a portion of such receipts must be distributed to school districts and the remainder used for roads and related purposes; the county transferred available proceeds to the transportation department.

Separately, the county noted a carryover of Title III funds (the portion of SRS-related funding designated for resource protection and search-and-rescue) of roughly $128,000. The budget draft allocates $85,150 for wildfire-prevention activities and $42,907 for search-and-rescue for the coming year. Staff explained that search-and-rescue funds have use restrictions tied to public-land missions (national forest, BLM) and may be used for training, equipment and recovery-related expenses when missions occur on eligible public lands.

Why it matters: lower federal receipts reduce discretionary county revenue available for roads and related services tied to national-forest activity; Title III funds support important public-safety readiness for wildfire prevention and search-and-rescue operations.

Next steps: the board recorded the funding picture and approved carrying Title III money forward into the coming fiscal year for the specified wildfire-prevention and search-and-rescue activities.